I'm not used to finding this thread on page 2. There are rules here of course.

Anyway, nothing about a J! game, but the TV show Superior Donuts instead. The owner of the shop announced they were out of "long johns." Based on context I knew it had to be something edible and was not clothing. I had no idea what to picture though. I found the answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_(doughnut) (not an appetizing image at all)

Hammer and others: Any other regional variations? It never hurts to learn something about a goodie. I agree with the article on the West Coast terminology.

When I was a kid, I remember people calling bar donuts "Long Johns" here in southern California. Not sure if it was my mom (family from Massachusetts) or my dad (family from California), but I remember the name. Nowadays here, we call them "bar donuts", or specific for flavor (maple bar, chocolate bar, filled bar). Oddly enough, they're never just "bars" without a modifier. No one would say "give me a dozen bars", for example.

I'm not used to finding this thread on page 2. There are rules here of course.

Anyway, nothing about a J! game, but the TV show Superior Donuts instead. The owner of the shop announced they were out of "long johns." Based on context I knew it had to be something edible and was not clothing. I had no idea what to picture though. I found the answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_(doughnut) (not an appetizing image at all)

Hammer and others: Any other regional variations? It never hurts to learn something about a goodie. I agree with the article on the West Coast terminology.

When I was a kid, I remember people calling bar donuts "Long Johns" here in southern California. Not sure if it was my mom (family from Massachusetts) or my dad (family from California), but I remember the name. Nowadays here, we call them "bar donuts", or specific for flavor (maple bar, chocolate bar, filled bar). Oddly enough, they're never just "bars" without a modifier. No one would say "give me a dozen bars", for example.

I've always referred to them as long johns. I've heard the term "maple bar," but the ones with chocolate have always been long johns. They are filled with either custard or creme.

So I looked back at this game's "Not in the Bible" category, and I'm stunned at how tough it was.

Bernice, Bacchus, Bartimaeus

All three sound equally Biblical to me. Bernice is only passingly mentioned in Acts, and Bartimaeus is so obscure he doesn't even have a Wikipedia article. I went with "Bernice", figuring it to be a more modern name since I'm far more likely to meet a person in real life named Bernice than Bacchus or Bartimaeus.

Lois, Lydia, Luther

Given Martin Luther, it's totally valid to believe there's a Luther in the Bible if you've NHO Lois or Lydia, which I bet most people haven't. I looked up the other two, and each is mentioned only in a single verse.

Alexander, Amenhotep, Agrippa

Annas, Atreyu, Aquila

These two are no better. All three sound equally Biblical to me.

Shadrach, Shamash, Shalmaneser

This was the only one that I was actually able to eliminate a choice on, because of Rack, Shack, and Benny from VeggieTales. Still leaves it a total coinflip.

So I looked back at this game's "Not in the Bible" category, and I'm stunned at how tough it was.

Bernice, Bacchus, Bartimaeus

All three sound equally Biblical to me. Bernice is only passingly mentioned in Acts, and Bartimaeus is so obscure he doesn't even have a Wikipedia article. I went with "Bernice", figuring it to be a more modern name since I'm far more likely to meet a person in real life named Bernice than Bacchus or Bartimaeus.

Lois, Lydia, Luther

Given Martin Luther, it's totally valid to believe there's a Luther in the Bible if you've NHO Lois or Lydia, which I bet most people haven't. I looked up the other two, and each is mentioned only in a single verse.

Alexander, Amenhotep, Agrippa

Annas, Atreyu, Aquila

These two are no better. All three sound equally Biblical to me.

Shadrach, Shamash, Shalmaneser

This was the only one that I was actually able to eliminate a choice on, because of Rack, Shack, and Benny from VeggieTales. Still leaves it a total coinflip.

Agreed on all counts. I ran the category, but not easily. In each case, the correct response is someone who MIGHT be mentioned in the Bible but happens not to be. (As you say, maybe Martin Luther's surname comes from Scripture. It doesn't sound UN-Biblical. And even if you know Atreyu from The Neverending Story, are you SURE he didn't get his name from some minor Old Testament character?) So you either have to know specifically that the other two ARE in the Bible or have a strong intuition that the correct response is NEVER mentioned. E.g. on the "easiest" one, I couldn't have sworn that Bacchus NEVER comes up. But I knew for sure that Bernice and Bartimaeus do. And with Bernice, she gets three mentions and zero lines, so come on!

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Agreed on all counts. I ran the category, but not easily. In each case, the correct response is someone who MIGHT be mentioned in the Bible but happens not to be. (As you say, maybe Martin Luther's surname comes from Scripture. It doesn't sound UN-Biblical. And even if you know Atreyu from The Neverending Story, are you SURE he didn't get his name from some minor Old Testament character?) So you either have to know specifically that the other two ARE in the Bible or have a strong intuition that the correct response is NEVER mentioned. E.g. on the "easiest" one, I couldn't have sworn that Bacchus NEVER comes up. But I knew for sure that Bernice and Bartimaeus do. And with Bernice, she gets three mentions and zero lines, so come on!

I don't see any way to narrow down the top one to Bacchus. As I said, I went with "Bernice" because I figured on it being a comparatively more modern name -- I'm far more likely to run into someone who actually has that name than I am the other two choices.

Yeah, I could come up with justifications for a lot of those correct responses, but I think I would end up sounding like someone on the board, after a J! clue asked for the biggest 3-digit prime number, who justified 997 by saying that 900 + 50 + 37 [sic] looked prime, whereas, for example, 900 + 50 + 39 clearly didn't. Like Shadrach, Shamash, and Shalmaneser: when I saw the answer, I was like, "Okay, well, Shadrach was one of the fiery furnace guys, and 'Shalmaneser' ends with similar sounds to 'Nebuchadnezzar,' who is a well known biblical character, so of course it was Shamash" And the second part is BS because those two names are etymologically unrelated. I probably let the ends justify the means more often than I'd like to admit when I get stuff right, but that would have been a straight-up false positive getting me to the correct answer by dumb luck.

I'd go the bear route. They are synonymous with Yellowstone, which sounds like Jellystone, home of Yogi Bear and Boo boo.

When I was in Yosemite, there were all sorts of warnings about bears, and about not leaving food out and using the bear boxes to store food and food-smelling items. Thee were photos of cars that had had their doors ripped off by hungry bears looking for a snack.

I got Bacchus because he is the Roman god of wine and figured he wouldn't be in the Bible.

It's hardly unlikely. The Greek gods Zeus, Hermes, and Artemis all get a shout out.

Yes, but I think it would still be tricky to consider him a Blblical character even if he were mentioned in passing. Many pagan gods are mentioned in the Bible, but they don't really appear in the Bible, since the authors of the Bible did not consider them to really exist. (At least the authors of the New Testament, which is where Bacchus would appear if he were mentioned - I know there are some who claim that the very earliest Israelites were really henotheists rather than monotheists.) And contrary to what TPH himself often seems to think, the writers are rarely out to trick us. So I think that was a reasonable clue.

It is interesting that Lois, Lydia, and Bernice have had such good runs as female first names when the original persons are all mentioned so briefly.